Each work carries kōrero of resource, process, whakapapa, and belonging, showing how ancestral practice continues to move, breathe, and take form in the present. Bringing together learning, creativity, and community across the Whakatipu Basin and Murihiku, Whenu Ki Te Whenua celebrates tauira as emerging kaitiaki of knowledge. Their hands carry forward mātauranga, transforming natural materials into taonga rich with memory, skill, and cultural expression.

At the beginning of this journey is Nanny Roka, who planted the seeds of Poipoia te Kākano kia Puāwai and set each tauira upon a poutama — a pathway of learning, growth, and discovery. Like its ascending steps, each lesson and achievement builds upon the last, guiding tauira to where they stand today.

Presented across three levels of study, the works trace each student’s creative journey — from early discovery to confident practice. Through raranga and whatu, every whenu becomes a line of whakapapa, every pattern a voice, and every kete or kākahu a vessel for connection to whenua and whānau. At its heart is Whiria te Tāngata — the weaving together of people.

We warmly invite the community to Te Atamira to experience the wairua, beauty, and strength woven through each taonga, and to witness how the strands of culture, learning, and place continue to bind us together.

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“E kore e taea e te whenu kotahi ki te raranga i te whāriki kia mōhio tātou ki a tātou.”

“The tapestry of understanding cannot be woven by one strand alone.”